Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin moved to France in the late 1950s because he didn't want to be read as "merely a Negro; or, even, merely a Negro writer." He lived the rest of his life in Paris and the French Riviera, publishing fiction and essays that deeply influenced American literature from afar. This interview with Baldwin, published in the Paris Review a few years before the author's...

RARA-AVIS is for the discussion of hardboiled fiction, in and out of the mystery genre. Possible topics for discussion include: just what is hardboiled fiction?; how does it relate to film noir and/or the pulps?; who's better, Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett?; who are the best modern practitioners? do they in fact exist?; are there any truly hardboiled women writers?; and, how does the genre...

William Melvin Kelley (1937 - 2017) published four novels and a book of short stories between 1962 and 1970. These works, especially his 1962 debut A Different Drummer were met with great critical praise. Despite this acclaim, Kelley's works are often, and curiously, overlooked today. In this long-form essay published in the January 29, 2018, issue of The New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz describes how...